This is the second of the 'hat trick'
edition of Eberts' Files that I'm plugging out. Normally, I start out by
apologizing for being late with the file, but I'm about two months late,
and I already apologized last file, so I won't! I will thank you for your
patience during that interval while I recollected my motor neurons enough
to tap this out on my Mac.

So, what can I say about "EomE?" I
think this was one of the best episodes of this series. While not the very
best, it had the drama, humor and action to put it into the upper echelon.

So let's look at some 'bits.'

This is the beginning of a loosely
connected 2 parter. Craig explained that the rules he was given for these
last two were that it should either function as a season or a series finale
(boo!) and that the episodes were loose enough that they could be shown
out of sequence in syndication if need to. I don't quite understand the
rationale of the latter, but obviously TPTB thought they knew better (although,
now we know better).

The Return of Eddie Jones: In the very
beginning of I-Man, The Official had a few wonderful, revealing episodes.
Catevari, TOI, and DYK all filled in backstory and really gave Eddie something
sink his teeth into. After that, the writers seemed to take him for granted.
New threats (Chrysalis, fish girl) and, later, new characters (myself and
Brandy) left The Official to serve the functions of exposition and occasional
veiled threats. I think the last scene between him and The Keeper re-established
his character with force and definite menace. The energy between those
two actors even during rehearsal was incredible and was a reminder how
good they were.

Mike the Guard was seen in several
episodes of "The Chronicle," each time as a different character. The producers
made it a running gag that he's always show up in some small part. While
he was dead, and we were shooting, a phone started beeping. It was his
phone!

Craig is the uberkid. Everyone was
a little nervous about Craig directing for one simple reason: he'd never
directed! The buzz started about two episodes before, and everyone was
a little on edge. Michael Grossman directed the two episodes around Craig
because he was out most experienced director and could 'hold his hand'
if needed. All of our fears were completely unfounded. Craig turned out
to be a confident, competent director who knew exactly what he wanted.
One of the worst things is having a director who is wishy-washy about what
they want from everyone. It breeds contempt and makes the day go long.
Craig knew so well what he wanted that is was a little unnerving. Often
he would only do one take and then move on. In the business, you always
like to get at least two takes of anything, usually more, for safety. Craig
would get his shot, think about it, then announce we were moving on. I
asked him why he was so confident, and he simply replied, "I've envisioned
this shot for three weeks. I know when I got it."

The original shot in the Agency Garage
started on a stuffed animal, literally hung from the ceiling. I didn't
understand the reference, but I wasn't the writer.

Paul kept on insisting on trying to
perfect his "self high-five" after making the van lights automatic. He
kept asking Craig for 'just one more take.'

For those of you wondering what Craig's
evil twin would look like, just look at the guy playing the spectacled
scientist. I had to look at him for about two minutes before realizing
that it really wasn't Craig trying his hand at acting.

Generation Gap. Paul will probably
kill me for this, but there was a debate as to what the 'red stripe on
the side' of the van line mean. Paul thought it referred to the Starsky
and Hutch car, while Vinny correctly guessed is was 'A-Team.' Paul just
didn't remember that Craig was a child of the 80's.

Funny moment Craig. During lunch, we
were all sitting around talking stuff at the table. A fly was buzzing around
Craig's mouth. A moment later we all hear, "I think I just ate a bug."
Sure enough, we turn, and the fly was gone. WE all howled at this, but
Craig seemed pretty calm.

Funny building moment. We filmed me
chasing Arnaud in downtown San Diego at some government building. The first
thing that was funny was that we changed the logos outside to read "The
Agency." People returning from lunch would walk to the door they walked
through, see the new logo, and stop in their tracks. It took them a moment
to figure out that it really was their building. Inside, they found me
with a huge gun, waiting for a cue. I tried to assure people that the gun
wasn't loaded, and we were shooting a television show, but the weird thing
was nobody seemed to care.

Funny/odd Joel moment. Joel marches
to his own, oddly syncopated drumbeat, which is great, but sometimes a
little off to the rest of the world. We were shooting the chase scene,
and suddenly on one could find Joel. For about 10 minutes the whole crew
searched for him. People were starting to get worried when he shows up
with coffee from a shop about 2 blocks away. He didn't bother to tell anyone
that he was leaving, or where. He just went.

The girl that Arnaud pushes away from
the taxi is actually a stunt woman. She was paid quite handsomely for that
fall.

Speaking of stunts, this episodes marked
the last time my stuntman, Carol, got a free lunch. Out of all the times
he was called to double me, only one episode did he actually do it (and
he really did it in TIoBE). The rest of the time the director would say,
"Well, we could use your stunt double, but the way I'm shooting it, it
would look better if you did it." Of course, being a sucker, I gladly offered
to do it each and every time. The result was a lot of bruises and a stuntman
thanking me for a lucrative day. You're welcome, Carol!

You can't see it, but my lunch pail
had an F&G logo on it.

Well, this was a big file, probably
because I like this episode a lot. It makes me sad that this was the exception,
rather than the rule, with season two. It makes me sadder that this is
my penultimate file! Oh well, I'll be maudlin next time. So until then,
see you next file!